The Vampire Athan
by The Red Dragons Order
Summary: Athan's story as he told it to Harry in the Green Flame Torch chapter 7, but can be read as a standalone. Here you have the situation with the ghost of Anne Boelyn, and ever wonder why the Leaning Tower of Pisa is the way it is?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own only the obvious, the rest belongs to JK Rowling.  
  
Authors Note: Well, I finally got off my lazy bum, and typed this up. This is all inspired by Anne Rice's 'Vampire Chronicles', though none of her characters are going to pop up. This is Athan's story the way he told it to Harry when he visited the Boy Who Lived in the summer holidays (see Green Flame Torch chapter 7), but it can be read as a standalone. Hope you enjoy it, and please review.  
  
-Chapter One-  
  
  
  
Athan grinned at the young man sitting on the bed.  
  
Harry Potter was a curious person. The wild black hair testified of the young mortals stubbornness and hate of being ordered around by others. The piercing, unnaturally green eyes spoke of the boys will to live, twinkling with an inner fire that refused to be tamed. The makings of a true immortal.  
  
He could hardly call someone like this for a boy. Harry had gone through more pain in his life than most of the vampires; from the first time he took a breath in this world 'til now, the young man had been fighting the Dark forces.  
  
Harry was currently laughing his head off. Personally Athan had no idea what was so funny. It wasn't his fault that the Leaning Tower of Pisa was the way it was. He had just leaned discreetly against it once. It wasn't his fault that those builders hadn't done what they were paid for. Alright, he did eat a few of the workers, but that still didn't make it his fault... did it? Besides, the tower had already begun to lean over when the third floor had been added in 1274; he just helped it a bit.  
  
"Gods above Athan!" Harry exclaimed when he had calmed down enough. "If that was your doing, I wonder what else you might have 'helped along'."  
  
The immortal made a quick decision. "Since you seem so interested, why don't I tell you?"  
  
"Tell me what?"  
  
"My life story; although it will be somewhat shortened. If I were to tell you absolutely everything that has happened to me over the years, it would take another 8000 years before I was finished."  
  
Harry seemed to think over it for a moment. "Alright, it cannot hurt." The young mortal settled in, and turned to the vampire. "Just begin whenever you want."  
  
Athan smiled and began to once again float aimlessly in midair. He closed his eyes, trying to recall the first few years of his life; both as a mortal human and as a vampire.  
  
***********************~*~*********************~*~*************************  
  
I was 25 years when I was turned, but I guess it'll be best to start from the very beginning.  
  
As everyone else I was born by a woman. A healthy young baby looking like a squashed, pink tomato with a tuft of black hair at the middle of my head. The Shaman of our tribe told my parents that I was meant for greatness and that I would have an inhumanly long life. So they named me Athan, witch meant - and still means - immortal.  
  
Our tribe had a settlement in a valley surrounded by tall mountains. With only a few usable passes, not many foreign tribes found their way to our little Eden. Those who did were often lone hunters or outcasts. Some of them stayed, others just passed through. But every time one came - no matter what the reason was - the tribe would always put up a magnificent feast.  
  
I know you're not going to believe this, but as a child I always stayed out of trouble. Avoided fights if I could; preferred listening to our old storyteller than to go hunting with the grown men. I hated weapons and killing, and I was considered weak and naïve; something I probably was at the time.  
  
Most of the tribe ignored me. The older men because I wouldn't hunt, the teenage boys because I didn't want to fight with them, the girls because I couldn't provide them with what they needed, and the older women just ignored me for no reason. My mother and father often told me that it was alright to be different, but I knew they were worried about me. I heard them late at night wondering what would become of me later in life. How would I survive? Why was I different? Would anyone ever want to mate with me? If so, then who would be the ideal wife? and so on.  
  
Now, a few years earlier an old man had found his way to our valley. When he came to us he was skin and bones, and many of us wondered how he had managed to survive the treacherous passes. He had been cast out of his tribe, accused of being a corrupted and evil spirit/demon, I never really managed to clear that up. Our chief - always the good-doer - allowed him to stay and gave him food. 'Couldn't be that bad,' he said. 'We must have an open mind, and help when we can.' We soon found out exactly why the old man had been thrown out of his tribe.  
  
He walked around the settlement all day and talked constantly into thin air. Now and then he would talk to a flower or a stone, other times to the water in the brook that ran by. At first people were wary, avoiding him as much as possible. But after some time we got used to it, and didn't pay it much mind. It became normal.  
  
I didn't know what to think of the old man, and ignored him like the rest of the tribe. However, the man didn't ignore me. No matter what I was doing or where I was going, he would constantly follow. If I went to the brook to fish, he would suddenly pop up and start talking to the water. If I was gathering eatable plants in the grove not too far from our settlement, he would follow me and start talking to the trees and plants. After a while it became very annoying.  
  
Once I cornered him and asked why he was following me around. He replied, "Because you, my dear boy, are cut out for something great - even if you cannot see it now. And besides, the spirits have told me to stick by you."  
  
"The spirits?" I asked. I didn't know what to think or do. So far I had only met one person who could talk to the spirits, our Shaman; and the old badger wasn't talking much to anyone these days, not even his apprentice.  
  
"They are restless, my boy;" he said. "They have told me that something is to come, something terrible."  
  
"If it was so, then the Shaman would have warned our warriors so that they could have prepared." I sneered.  
  
"This is not something that can be easily fought." The Old Man suddenly grinned. "Ask that old idiot about the Dark Gods. Go, ask him."  
  
I walked away from the Old Man, sneering in disgust. But the same evening when I saw the Shaman looking worriedly at the sky, I walked over to him and asked him about the Dark Gods. The Shaman looked at me in surprise; his wise, old eyes wide, and hands shaking. Then he got a calculating look in his eyes, and after a while mentioned for me to follow him to his hut.  
  
"First of all my child," he began when we were seated, "you must understand that there is more between heaven and earth than we mortals will ever know; there are good Gods and bad Gods, death and life, everything is perfectly balanced." I nodded as if I understood, though I had no idea what he was talking about; not then anyway. "If the Gods decide it is our time to die, then they kill us for a meaning. Dark Gods, Athan, are doomed people. When they were mortal humans they did horrible crimes, and must now pay for it by walking around for all eternity."  
  
"Is that all?" I asked. That didn't sound so bad. I would gladly have lived forever if it meant that I could see what would happen next with the humans.  
  
"No, it is not. They are pale as the snow on the mountaintops; their eyes unnaturally piercing and with an demonic twinkle in them. They have inhuman strength, and can easily rip a fully grown tree out of the ground. Their speed can only be matched by the huge, wolf-like, black cats that walk around in the grove; and instead of nails they have claws. They can hear and see things from incredible length."  
  
"That doesn't sound too bad either." I commented.  
  
"Don't interrupt me young fool." The Shaman was angry for some reason or other. "The Dark Gods cannot walk in the sunlight. If they tried they would burn up like a log in the bonfire. And they feed on blood."  
  
"On blood?!" There had to be a downside to it, didn't it.  
  
"Yes, Athan, on blood. They have unnaturally sharp teeth. Two of them can extend into fangs. They bite your neck and suck the blood out of you like a leach. The good Gods above have all condemned them." The Shaman glared at me. "Now, I command you to tell me where you heard about the Dark Gods."  
  
Some quick thinking solved that problem. "You always tell stories around the bonfire." I said innocently. "This just caught my attention." I stood up. "Thank you for your time great Shaman; I will not pester you again." I left before anything else could be said.  
  
Over the next few days I pondered what I had heard.  
  
-------------------------  
  
About a week later the first signs that something was wrong appeared. A child would disappear one day, the next one of the old and weak would be gone in the morning. The tribe blamed it on the leyries, and began to hunt the wolf-like cats. The Shaman didn't say a thing about what he knew, he just kept to himself and snapped at everyone and everything that came within a three-foot radius of him. The Old Man was becoming increasingly worried. He would pace up and down the camp, sometimes suddenly stopping up, shaking his head then continue to pace. The whole tribe was edgy and walking on high-strung nerves.  
  
I was observing everything quietly from the shadows. Some of the families left the tribe, never to return. One by one the hunters and warriors disappeared and were found dead a few days later. We never saw any traces of the enemy - whoever or whatever they were - near the camp, but a couple that had been out late one night swore that they saw something human-like walking out of the grove and onto the plains. At these news the Shaman became even more tight-lipped, and the Old Man more nervous.  
  
Then it happened.  
  
The Old Man had finally cracked. He began to walk around the camp, telling people about the Dark Gods and that they had to flee. All the good this did was to create even more panic among the people. The Shaman tried to get the Chief to cast the Old Man out, but our Chief was always a softhearted man and the Old Man stayed.  
  
One late night I was woken by angry screaming and lots of noise. I quickly got dressed and exited my hut.  
  
The people were gathered in our little 'square'. The Old Man was tied on hands and feet, forced to kneel on the hard ground. The Shaman had finally managed to get the people to listen to him; the Chief could only stand by and watch as the Shaman urged them to kill the Old Man.  
  
I was about to interfere - though I doubt it would've done much good - when suddenly the Shaman fell, something large and dark attached to his back. In the firelight I got a glimpse of snow-white skin and demonic twinkling eyes.  
  
There was a silence for a few minutes as the creature fed off the Shaman, then someone screamed and it marked the beginning of chaos.  
  
People were running here and there, children crying and being tramped on, some mothers trying to protect their young; no one cared about anything anymore, they had panicked. The tribe scattered and became an easy meal for the creatures hunting.  
  
I could hear the screams as one by one they fell, the prayers to Gods to let them live and the thumping of dozens of feet trying to get away. The Dark Gods - it had to be them! - were silent as the grave, only now and then uttering a howl of triumph.  
  
The next thing I knew I was inside a tent with my chest aching horribly. It was as though someone had hit me hard, and I was sure that I had at least two broken ribs. The door to the tent moved and in came a young man. He had the same deathly pale skin like the other Dark Gods, and his eyes sparkled even in the darkness. I backed up against the wall of the hut.  
  
The young man chuckled. "So afraid and yet so brave, so weak and yet so strong. You are a mysterious one, my dear Athan." I blinked in confusion. How in the name of the Gods could this monster know my name? "I know more about you than you think, mortal." The young man stepped towards me. "And I also know that you want to become one of us; to hunt with us, to live forever as one of us."  
  
I was shaking by the end of his speech. How could he know about that? True, I wanted to see what it was like to be like them; and I admit, I wanted to live forever. I was so confused that I hadn't noticed the young man sitting down opposite me as if nothing was out of the ordinary.  
  
"I can give it to you," his quiet voice brought me back. "I can make you one of us, but I will not do it unless you tell me to." He looked at me, his words hanging in the air between us.  
  
I didn't need to think over the offer, I had done enough of that in the past days. "Do it." I said, my voice steady and even. "Make me one of you."  
  
He smiled, something akin to pride in his eyes.  
  
"I will, but first there are things you must know. Ah, I see that fool Shaman of yours have already told you the basics of being an Immortal - that's what we call ourselves. We are neither Gods nor demons, good nor evil. There is no good and evil, it depends how you use your powers. We are just creatures trying to survive in the world." He took a deep breath. "You know about the sun and how we feed. I must add one more thing to that though; most of us sleep during the day - underground or wherever it is dark and no sun can penetrate - but you don't need to. Just find a dark place with no sun - like this hut - and you'll stay alive. As for the feeding. When you feed, you must stop before the heart of the victim stops to beat, or it'll drag you with it into death."  
  
I nodded, carefully filing the information away. Neither of us noticed that the noises from outside were getting lower and lower.  
  
"An Immortals life isn't exactly danger-free." The man said gravely. "Besides the Sun and the Pull of Death, you have groups of humans scattered around the world that hunt and slay us. These groups regularly keep in contact, and meet once a year. They call themselves the Slayers - don't worry, you'll know when you meet one - and I advice you to stay away from them." He took a deep breath. "Then there is Them."  
  
"Who are they?" I asked.  
  
"No one knows who or even what they are. What we do know however, is that they more or less watch over us Immortals. There are two kinds of Them. One kind help us, and the other kind tries to make us use our powers for Dark things. Oh yes, mortal, even we can succumb to the temptation of the Dark. They will offer you powers beyond your belief; if that doesn't work, then they will offer you the ability to walk in the sun again. After a while always being alone and walking around in the night begins to go to your head. You get depressed, lonely, lose your will to survive and so on; and all you want is to see the sun again. Don't take anything they offer you. And for heavens sake, Athan, never seek them out. They will find you when the time's right."  
  
I nodded like a good boy, but my curiosity was already working overtime. Who were Them? What did they look like? Why did one kind watch over Immortals, and the other wanting to lure them to the Dark? What did they know? What powers did they have? Were they Gods? And about these Slayers. Why hadn't we heard about them? How good fighters were they? Why did they do what they did? How did you become a member? And why in heavens name did this Immortal tell me all of this? Why was he willing to make me into one of them? Did he expect something in return? This was all so confusing, yet it was clear as crystal.  
  
"Why I wanted to turn you into one of us, and why I'm telling you this?" the young man smiled. "To answer the first one: You have the makings of a true Immortal. The curiosity, the will, the strength, the power; and not to mention that your name means 'immortal'. As for the other, I didn't want anything to happen to you. I've taken a liking to you mortal; and when you become an Immortal, I'll like you even more. It's always like that. Maker and Fledgling will always feel strongly for each other, no matter if they hated each other in their mortal lives."  
  
"What kind of powers do you have, and what can I expect?" I asked nodding once again.  
  
"Great Gods above, I nearly forgot about that! You already know about the strength and the speed, sight and hearing. Now, as a Fledgling you will be able to hear others thoughts, be it mortal or Immortal. As you grow older your powers will increase, and what cannot kill you will only make you stronger. You will always know if there is another Immortal close to you, and most of the time how old he or she is. You will have very good reflexes, but respect your limits."  
  
"Who is the oldest Immortal?"  
  
The young man looked uncomfortable. "They say that the oldest one is 600 years old, no one knows if there is Immortals older than that. If you ever decide to find out, let me know what you came up with. The oldest one I have met was 300 years old, and I have been an Immortal for about 58 or 60 seasons. Also, be very careful out in the world. Some Immortals will have mastered the ability to hide their thoughts, so you won't be able to hear or find them. You will also know if the Immortal close to you is a threat or not."  
  
"What about you? Will I be able to read you mind?"  
  
"Read my mind? Well, that certainly is a new way of calling it. As for your question, no you won't. Master and Fledgling will never be able to... read each others thoughts, as you put it - but I will always know where you are, and if you need my help or not." He looked towards the sky. "We should hurry, the sun will be up soon." He turned back to me. "Now, this will hurt a bit, but just keep your eyes fixed on one place all the time and try to relax. The transformation from mortal to Immortal will be painful and you will sleep until the next night, but that's about it. Ready?" he stood up and walked towards me.  
  
I began to back up, but then gathered my - and at that time a very small amount of courage and stood up. The Immortal tilted my head to the side with strong hands and started to search for the right spot. A second later a felt something sharp against my skin. Pressure was gradually added until the fangs were buried deep inside, sucking to them the crimson flood.  
  
That it would hurt a bit was an understatement. It felt like fire and ice and everything else thinkable at the same time. I squirmed trying to get away, but the Immortal was too strong; yet through all this my eyes stayed focused on a single spot in the hut - a tiny drawing of a leyrie-head. Right underneath it I had buried a knife I had gotten from my father when I was born. He had been disappointed that I wouldn't use it, but I guessed that it wouldn't matter much longer.  
  
I think I fainted somewhere along the line, for the next thing I remember is something wet and coppery-tasting dripping on my lips. From the first taste of it I wanted more, I craved it like I craved fresh air. I whimpered and tried to stretch after the wonderful substance.  
  
From above me I heard a chuckle. "Easy there my Fledgling, here you go." The source of the flood was lowered to my mouth and I felt flesh. I fumbled with my arms - discovering that I was feeding off the Immortals wrist - and in the end managed to hold onto the strong arm.  
  
"Good isn't it?" my response was another strong suck. "Athan, stop." The Immortal tried to draw his arm to himself. I would have none of it. "You are stronger than I first thought. Ahhhh! Stop before you kill us both! ATHAN!" he managed to pull his arm to himself.  
  
My first instinct was to jump after the blood, but suddenly wave after wave of pain came over me; it just wouldn't stop. I screamed for help, panicked that the Immortal had killed me.  
  
"Don't worry, it's just your mortal body that dies. It happens to us all. Soon it will be over." The Immortal stood by the door. "And now I must leave you. Remember what I have told you, and be careful not to spend all of eternity alone. Get friends among the Immortals that you can visit if you're lonely. Be careful with mortals, don't show yourself to them if you don't mean to kill them. We will meet again Fledgling." With that he left and I was alone in the hut feeling like my guts were burned up from inside.  
  
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Well, what do you think? Should I continue this, or give it up?  
  
If anyone is interested, I have a couple of early sketches of Athan, Cian, Zev and Ramsis.  
  
Suggestions and comments welcome, so please review. 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own only the obvious, the rest belongs to JK Rowling.  
  
Authors Note: Well, here's chapter two. Hope you enjoy and please review.  
  
-Chapter Two-  
  
  
  
* * * *  
  
'But first on earth, as Vampyre sent,  
  
Thy corpse shall from its tomb be rent;  
  
Then ghastly haunt thy native place,  
  
And suck the blood of all thy race;  
  
There from thy daughter, sister, wife,  
  
At midnight drain the stream of life;  
  
Yet loathe the banquet, which perforce  
  
Must feed thy livid living corpse,  
  
Thy victims, ere they yet expire,  
  
Shall know the demon for their sire;  
  
As cursing thee, thou cursing them,  
  
Thy flowers are withered on the stem...'  
  
Mary Shelly 'The Cenci'  
  
* * * *  
  
I gradually became aware of myself again. Every muscle hurt as hell and I felt weaker than ever before; yet, at the same time, I felt more powerful than even the gods themselves. I felt like I could do anything, I felt immortal.  
  
That single word brought back the memories of the night before - if it had happened the night before. I had no idea how much time had passed, so I decided to take this logically. Don't laugh at me, Harry. Yes, I can be very logical when I have to; I just tend to avoid that kind of situations.  
  
Anyways, as I said, I decided to take this logically. I was still alive, so the Immortal hadn't killed me in the everyday sense of the word. I ran my tongue over my teeth, searching for the fangs. I wasn't disappointed. My two canine teeth were longer and much, much sharper than before. They were withdrawn at the moment, but I knew instinctively that they would appear when I was about to feed. That was all I could figure out without moving.  
  
A thought struck me like a bolt out of the blue. What if it was day outside?! I didn't particularly want to burn up before I had a chance of living like an Immortal - and I still don't as a matter of fact.  
  
I sat up and found myself on my bed; how I ended up there when I had been made an Immortal at the other side of the hut, was beyond me, but the answer to that question came through the door of the hut at the same moment in the form of the Old Man.  
  
He smiled when he saw that I was awake.  
  
"About time you got up," he said. "I have no intention of being your slave, and we have to get a move on boy. We cannot stay here all the time." The Old Man sat down opposite me, and started to eat some dried meat.  
  
My stomach rumbled loudly and he chuckled. "That's always a good sign. I have a freshly caught live rabbit just outside." He went out and got it. The rabbit was white and wasn't going down without a fight, but the Old Man had a surprisingly strong grip on it. He handed it over to me. "Here. Remember to avoid the Pull of Death."  
  
"How do you know so much about Immortals?" I asked, the rabbit was clutched in my grip. It didn't feel any stronger than before.  
  
"Later boy, I'll tell you later. Now you need to eat, and preferably before you strangle that rabbit to death."  
  
I looked down. The creatures eyes were bulging comically, but I was so horrified that I dropped it. The rabbit made a mad dash for the exit, but my new instincts chose that moment to kick in; even if I was horrified at the thought of drinking from a living creature, my instincts belonged to a predator. And the predator in me was hungry.  
  
Before I knew what was happening, I had lounged after the white rabbit, caught it and was finishing with drinking the crimson flood from it. Its heart beat in time with mine, the sound if it getting louder and louder every second. I could feel something cold and dark pulling at me, and I started resisting. I didn't want to die.  
  
Suddenly I found myself back in the hut with the Old Man. I was lying flat out on the floor, the dead rabbit in my hands, and he was chuckling. I didn't exactly look graceful.  
  
The Old Man took the rabbit from my hands and threw it out of the door and into the night, then he turned to me. I was just lying there, letting the new blood rush through me, feeling like I was flying high over the earth - something I'd always dreamt of.  
  
Something hard connected with my face. "Don't let the blood hypnotize you, Athan. Else it will rule over you and you'll become a murderer instead of survivor." The Old Man helped me to sit up. "You have to reign it in, rule over the blood thirst."  
  
It took some time before I managed to focus entirely on him. He was sitting calmly opposite me, finishing up the piece of dried meat he had begun.  
  
"So, how do you know so much about Immortals?" I asked again. I wondered at first if he was a Slayer, but my Maker had told me that I would know when one of those were near. Then my imagination ran off with me and I began to think the weirdest thoughts I've ever thought in my life. Was he one of Them, whoever they might be? Was he some kind of God? A spirit who had taken human form and decided to show itself to us? There were endless possibilities.  
  
"No, I'm not a God, nor a spirit, nor one of Them." What was he, a mind reader? "My sister was turned into an Immortal when she was young. We maintained contact until I was thrown out of the tribe, and she told me what it was like to be like her; she even offered to turn me, but I declined. I'm too old to live forever." The Old Man smiled sadly to someone or something that only he could see.  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"We have to get a move-on if we want to reach the caves by dawn." He said and I didn't pry anymore.  
  
Suddenly a thought struck me. "What about the rest of the tribe?"  
  
"They are dead." No emotion, just a simple fact. "Except those who got away in time and the two of us, the rest are gone. Now, this is what we're going to do. We're going to gather as much food as possible, some clothes and some weapons. Then we're going to head south towards the caves, and we'll see what happens from there."  
  
I nodded, it sounded like a good plan, and besides, the smell of death was beginning to take over my senses and my head hurt.  
  
-------------------------  
  
Gathering what we would need didn't take much time. I tried not to think about anything, didn't turn the bodies to identify them, nor did I shed a tear. It was as if I was watching everything from the outside, watching a stranger walk amongst the dead and take food and clothes and weapons from them.  
  
A quiet crying drew me out of my thoughts, and I follow it to its source. 'Why didn't I hear it before?' I ask myself. 'Probably because I was too deep in my thoughts.' Answering my own question I enter a tiny hut, and stop dead in my tracks.  
  
A little four year old girl, Kanika, is staring up at me with wide eyes. I remember her parents. They were some of those who didn't ignore me and let me watch their children when they wanted to be alone or when they were working. Kanika's brother and two sisters were all dead, lying on the floor, their eyes glassy, wide and unseeing.  
  
"Athan!" she cried and climbed over the bodies, a little wooden figure tightly clutched in her grip. When she reached me she jumped in my arms, ignoring the coldness of my skin.  
  
I was surprised at first, but then I held her as close as possible, being careful not to crush her tiny body like I'd almost done with the rabbit. She was cold and shaking from head to foot, and she was crying on my shoulder.  
  
Murmuring encouraging words and stroking her hair I left the hut, picked up the things I had taken from the dead, and set out to find the Old Man.  
  
----------------------  
  
"No, absolutely not!" I glared at the Old Man. "We cannot leave her alone, and if she isn't coming with us, neither am I."  
  
The older man rolled his eyes and sighed. "If you put it that way, alright, but you have the job of babysitting her." He looked to the sky. "We better get going."  
  
Kanika ran over to him and hugged his leg tightly. The Old Man looked down at her and raised an eyebrow. She, however, wasn't intimidated and just hung on more tightly.  
  
"Athan, get this brat to let go of me." I chuckled and picked her up. "I hate children under ten years." He muttered. "Come on, lets get out off here."  
  
And with that we started the journey that would change my entire life.  
  
***********************~*~********************~*~**************************  
  
The vampire shook himself and looked over to the young mortal boy sitting quietly on his bed.  
  
Harry on his part was thinking over the things he had heard so far. Athan was far more complex a character than he had first thought; well, after living for 8000 years the Gryffindor supposed you would be complex - but he felt somewhat guilty for not looking past Athan's joking exterior.  
  
He looked up at the immortal who seemed to be waiting for the conviction to fall. "My dear immortal friend," the Boy Who Lived began, "I am not going to throw you to the lions just because you're the sole survivor of an attack that happened eight thousand years ago."  
  
"Maybe you won't throw me to the lions for that, but what happens next will sure as hell change your mind."  
  
"We won't know that until you actually tell me what happened next." Harry assured his friend. "Now, as it's almost seven AM and the Dursleys will be up soon, I hope you won't mind if we postpone the next part of the story 'til later tonight?"  
  
Harry suggested the postponing for two reasons:  
  
One: the Dursleys were going to be up soon.  
  
And two: Athan needed some time to compose himself again.  
  
"Sure, I don't mind." Athan looked thoughtfully at him. "Would you mind terribly if I played a few pranks on these... incredibly good animal-look- alike's?"  
  
Harry chuckled. "Sure, but nothing too big or we'll draw unwanted attention to ourselves. And my guess is that neither the Ministry of Magic nor the Slayer Organisation would pass up the opportunity to capture a vampire as old as you?"  
  
"Hell yeah, you should've seen it the last time they tried! They managed to corner me and I had to actually use some of my powers to get away."  
  
"I take it that you don't like to use whatever powers you have?"  
  
"Oh no, I love doing that, but I've promised to Cian - every vampire has to promise when they get turned - never to use them against mortals. But I'll tell you about that later." The vampire was standing upside-down on the ceiling, grinning at Harry and showing off his fangs.  
  
"You're one weird vampire Athan, I'll give you that."  
  
The immortal grinned even more and bowed making a great show out of it. "Why thank you good sir, I tend to do my best you know."  
  
"I rest my case."  
  
"Boy!" Aunt Petunias shrill voice came from the other side of the door. "Who are you talking to in there?"  
  
"No one Aunt Petunia."  
  
"No one? Oh, go jump off a cliff Potter!" Athan was grinning deviously at Harry who glared at him. "Watch this," the vampire whispered. "I tell you, by the time I'm finished with them, you won't have to cook or clean for them for minimum a week."  
  
Harry did an incredible imitation of Snape wondering how the hell he always ended up with the idiots and comedians.  
  
"Boy, who was that?! Don't make me get your uncle!"  
  
"Just go and get him, you pompous giraffe of a human being!" Athan called. "I doubt that that peanut-brain elephant of a husband of yours could do much about this situation." The immortal didn't even bother to at least try to conceal the glee in his voice.  
  
"WHAT?!!!! VERNON!!!!!! DUDLEY!!!!!!!" they could hear running footsteps disappearing down the stairs and into the kitchen.  
  
"Creative insults." Harry said without looking up from the floor. "I'm so dead."  
  
"Thank you for the compliment, and just trust me."  
  
"I'm as dead as what Voldemort's gonna be by the time I'm finished with him."  
  
"Hey, c'mon! Relax and enjoy the show!"  
  
Right then there were thunderous footsteps on the stairs, the house shook slightly. Athan nearly lost his balance and almost fell from the ceiling. Harry just stayed where he was. Then the footsteps stopped outside the door to the room that belonged to the Boy Who Lived.  
  
"BOY! What did you say to your Aunt?!"  
  
"He called her a stick-thin, horse-faced ostrich. He also said that if she turned sideways, she would disappear!"  
  
"Ave Maria, full of grace..." Harry mumbled.  
  
"WHO THE HELL WAS THAT?!!!!" Vernon demanded. "OPEN THIS DOOR IMMEDIATELY!!!"  
  
"There's no need to yell, you walrus sized idiot. We have perfectly good hearing."  
  
"Free us from our sins..."  
  
"Dad! Show him what happens when you mess with a Dursley!" Dudley whispered.  
  
However, Athan had - as he had mentioned already - perfectly good hearing. "Oh shut up, you great... um... great... pssst, help me out here Harry."  
  
"Wombat." Harry said. "God have mercy on my soul..."  
  
"You great, whale sized lump of a slothful wombat!"  
  
That was it. Vernon was doing one hell of an imitation of a beetroot. In no time he had broken down the door and run into the room beyond, Petunia and Dudley at his heels. However, the whole family stopped dead in their tracks when they saw the vampire standing upside-down on the ceiling.  
  
"What the hell!" Vernon exclaimed. Petunia shrieked and ran out of the room, while Dudley just gaped at the immortal.  
  
Athan grinned and made sure that the Dursley's saw his fangs getting longer and longer. Dudley's eyes were as big as dinner platters, while Vernon had gone deadly pale. Harry had stopped praying in a god he didn't believe in, and was watching the whole scene with mounting amusement.  
  
"My, my, my," the immortal said, his tone was as dark as the grave. "What a nice dinner I have come upon." He grinned even wider and with a lightning- fast movement had his hand wrapped in Vernon's shirt, and was lifting the pale man off the floor. Then he dropped him again. "My mother always said that it's not healthy to eat upside-down, and I agree with her." Athan jumped down from the ceiling and landed on the floor like a cat, no sound escaped.  
  
Vernon was shaking by this time, and before the vampire could take another step towards him, he had grabbed Dudley and was out of the room with a speed that would make a vampire proud. The real immortal watched the door bang shut trying hard not to laugh. That was one of his best performances, right up there with the act of being Anne Boelyn.  
  
Harry stood up and stopped beside the vampire, an amused smile on his lips. "How long did you say that you wanted to stay here?"  
  
-------------------------  
  
There, finally finished. Sorry about the wait for this and the other stories, but I'm snowed in with school work. I'll try to get the next chapter out as fast as possible.  
  
Also I realise that some of you didn't get the pictures I promised in the last chapter. I'm so sorry, but I simply never have the time. If you want them, please tell me, and I'll do my best to send them to you.  
  
Thanks to:  
  
Rachel A. Prongs, Confuzzler, Unnamed, RJLL, QuidBrm, Dark Sin, Naia, Erica, Silver Earth Dragon, daemonhart, Brion, Korinna Myorin, Dragonhope and coconut-ice agent h/h. 


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I own only the obvious the rest belongs to JK Rowling.  
  
Authors Note: Sorry for the long hold up, and thanks to my wonderful beta's Tabitha and Lexi-formerly Katy999.  
  
-Chapter Three-  
  
Harry entered his room, a plate with a sandwich in one hand, and a glass of apple juice in the other. The Durlsey's had fled from the house, and probably wouldn't return until tomorrow, perhaps even later than that. Athan was currently trying to befriend Pig - but with no luck. The tiny owl either bit him or ignored him completely.  
  
"How do you stand this thing?" the vampire glared at the feather ball.  
  
"I don't, as I said before: it belongs to a friend of mine." Harry sat down at the bed. "I'd offer you something to eat, but since I've no wish to become Harry ala carte you have to go without."  
  
"Not to worry." Athan smirked evilly. "I think a certain kamikaze-owl will do just fine."  
  
Pig gulped and tried to put Hedwig between himself and the immortal.  
  
Harry chuckled. "Well? When am I going to get to hear the rest of your tragic story?"  
  
"Right now!" The vampire settled into the uncomfortable desk-chair. "Where was I? Ah, yes, the beginning of my travels with the Old Man and Kanika."  
  
***********************~*~*********************~*~*************************  
  
We reached the caves at the other side of the valley well before the dawn. None of us bothered to make a fire or eat, we just spread out some skins and fell asleep at once.  
  
The same night I was woken by Kanika who was shaking my shoulder complaining that she was hungry. The Old Man was just entering the cave with a bunch of twigs in his arms. He dumped them on the floor, made an elegant gesture with his hand and a second later we had a nice fire burning. Me and Kanika just stared at him and the fire in wonder and he chuckled.  
  
"You're able to do the same Athan, and I believe that Kanika isn't completely hopeless herself," he said.  
  
"I can't do that!" I protested.  
  
"You will be able to do that and much more by the time I'm finished with you, Immortal."  
  
Not much later he had cooked a nice meal for himself and the girl. I was about to participate when I remembered that I wasn't mortal anymore. So I just sat down with them and waited for them to finish.  
  
When he was done, the Old Man turned to me. "First of all we need to train you," he said.  
  
"Why?" I asked.  
  
"You really think you can survive out there," he mentioned towards the cave opening with his hand, "with what you know now? Oh, no, my dear boy; you don't have a chance, not even with your Immortal powers. Since I can control the Elements - which requires a lot of discipline and concentration - I can at least teach you to control your own powers. I can teach you a fare share of weapon-usage too, and what you don't know you'll have to learn on your own."  
  
"Teach me too!" Kanika almost jumped up and down in her seat.  
  
The Old Man looked doubtful.  
  
"Oh come on," I said. "If she gets attacked or something when we're not there or during the daytime she'll need to know how to protect herself."  
  
"Alright, I'll start easier on you but that doesn't mean that you won't be working hard. Understood?" Kanika nodded. "I hate children." The Old Man muttered, but I still think he quite fancied Kanika.  
  
The Old Man started the training the very next night. But before I tell you the horrors of that training, I must tell you a bit about vampires that very few know. The first two years after we're turned we change. Yes, you heard right - we do change. Our body changes so that it can harbour the powers we get over the centuries.  
  
Over the next two years I changed into the man you see now. The Old Man was, as said, an Elemental, and he helped me discover and control my own powers. We started first with the speed and strength. He taught me how to regulate both so that I didn't accidentally kill someone I was hugging, or if I was in the middle of a group of people didn't start to run faster than them.  
  
After that we moved on to my magical powers. Those were harder. As I still was a Fledgling in most ways and hadn't even reached my first year as an Immortal, it took tremendous concentration and headaches on my part to unlock them and use them. You see, everyone has a bit of Elemental magic in himself or herself; it lays dormant behind a thick wall and waits for the right moment to show itself. Most people never discover their powers, and those who do often go mad before they can get trained by an Elemental Master.  
  
Now, as vampires grow older that wall gets thinner and thinner and in the end disappears. By the time that happens, most of us have learned discipline, patience and concentration, and can train ourselves. But I had to tear down the wall, and the Old Man worked me like a slave. More than once I wanted to just kill him, but he was more experienced than me and I needed to know everything he did to manage, so I endured everything he put me through. And it paid off in the end. One night he had been so annoying that I exploded and without knowing it used my powers for the first time. I had him bound and gagged and hanging from a tree before he could even blink.  
  
When he finally came down all he said was that I had to learn to control my temper, then he hugged me - his eyes shining proudly. Kanika was jumping up and down, squealing happily. She herself, had had a major progress with her own powers, and her favourites were Earth and Water. She was also very good with defending herself with a knife, and when she was six years the Old Man gave her his own knife as a gift. When Kanika hugged him, he just stood there stiff as a plank and after a while brought up his hand and clapped her awkwardly on the back.  
  
We travelled together for seven years. We had seen most of the things the world had to offer and had made many friends with other tribes. The weird thing was that we hadn't run into one single vampire along the way, not even traces of one!  
  
As the years went by Kanika grew into a beautiful eleven-year-old girl, her eyes sparkling with life. She didn't care that I was an Immortal, I was her bigger brother in her mind and she could hardly remember her real family. We had taught her well, and she was independent and hated boys who tried to hit on her when we came across a tribe.  
  
The Old Man was getting weaker for every day that went, and especially in the last two months we spent together. Yet he pushed on and refused to give up. Kanika and I helped him as much as he would allow us, and both of us prepared ourselves for the fact that we would soon loose the old git.  
  
I myself had developed greatly. If someone from my old tribe had seen me now, I don't think they would've been able to recognise me. I did most of the hunting and watched over the other two like a she-wolf would her cubs.  
  
One night we came across another human tribe. They welcomed us into their midst and gave us food, water and new clothes as well. Kanika and the Old Man quickly became at ease with these strangers but I didn't, there was just something about them that I didn't like, but I stayed with them watching over my dear friends.  
  
As the dawn drew nearer and we prepared to leave, it happened. We had said our goodbyes and headed towards the mountains that we could see in the distance, when the chief of the tribe stepped in front of us with six of his strongest warriors.  
  
"But you can't leave yet!" he exclaimed. "We want something in return for our hospitality."  
  
"What is it?" the Old Man asked in annoyance. All three of us were keeping an eye out for the sun, the sky had already started turning light blue. "A story? Some deer's? A dance?"  
  
"We want you and her," the chief pointed to Kanika who clung to my side.  
  
"What in the names of the gods are you talking about?" I asked. Fear had crept over me.  
  
"Him as food and her as a new member of our group," a warrior said nonchalantly.  
  
"Excuse me," I snapped. "But I just thought I heard you say that you wanted to eat him."  
  
"You heard right," another warrior replied. "And you we can use as a hunter or something."  
  
"Are you mad!"  
  
"No, we're furious! We haven't had human meat in ages, and it will do us good! Besides, the old man is close to death anyway!" a woman yelled.  
  
The three of us stared at them in horror. The tribe had effectively surrounded us and forced us towards a great bonfire that had been started in the middle of the camp. Suddenly arms shoot out and grabbed Kanika. She screamed and kicked out, and before anyone else could try to take her away I lifted her up in my arms.  
  
The Old Man was watching the sky worriedly and at the same time trying to fend off several attackers. But they were too strong for him and soon had him bound to a pole and were dragging him towards the fire. I and Kanika clung to each other, knowing that there wasn't anything we could do for him anymore. There were no screams, no sounds. A silent death.  
  
Strong hands grabbed Kanika while several others grabbed me. They managed to wrench her away from me and dragged her off, while I was held down by the six warriors who'd been with the chief.  
  
The chief was standing over me, grinning evilly. "Perhaps we should eat this one too?" he suggested and the rest of the tribe cheered.  
  
"ATHAN!!!!" Kanika's screams reached me. I was dizzy and weak from the approaching dawn, but I managed to pull myself together enough to throw off my captors. I ran after her with unnatural speed, but constantly spears appeared in my way and drove me further away.  
  
"Kanika!!!!" I yelled after her an tried to reach her. I could see her, she was trying to avoid being dragged into a hut.  
  
"Athan!" she looked to the sky. "Get going!" she yelled. "Come back tonight! Please!" I looked at her, torn into staying and following my instincts to hide from the light. "Please!"  
  
I sent her one last apologetic look and ran.  
  
***********************~*~*********************~*~*************************  
  
A single crimson tear slid down the marble-like face in front of him, and Harry couldn't help but letting go of one of his own. It seemed like he and Athan had something in common: they had both lost loved ones to evil bastards.  
  
Athan was trying to pull himself together and angrily wiped the tear away. There was no use crying. It had happened more than 8000 years ago! He was startled when a handkerchief was held right under his face, and looked up into Harry's green eyes. He smiled and accepted it before taking a deep breath to calm himself.  
  
"I miss her," the Immortal admitted quietly.  
  
"I know." Came the equally answer. "What happened next?" Harry asked after a while.  
  
"I took revenge on them." Athan's face hardened. "And gods help me did it feel good."  
  
-------------------------  
  
There, done. Alright, it is shorter than the other two, but exams have gotten in the way. Just be glad that I posted at all.  
  
Please review.  
  
Thanks to:  
  
Naia, brion, Rachel A. Prongs, Hikari Kura, Thevlyn, Dragonhope, Korinna Myorin, bubblegum*girl, Suna, WeasleyTwinsLover1112, Makina Kitsune, Aphreal Akuma and JerseyGirl03. 


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I own only the obvious, the rest belongs to JK Rowling.  
  
Authors Note: Sorry for the delay, but here's the new chapter. Enjoy!  
  
-Chapter Four-  
  
* * * *  
  
'Surrounded by so many,  
  
Yet still I am alone.  
  
Time has washed away my face  
  
And all that's left is stone.  
  
So far am I from heaven,  
  
A prisoner of this earth.  
  
Does anyone remember me?  
  
Does anyone know my worth?  
  
For me, there is no future,  
  
My time to shine has passed.  
  
I'm not the first to feel this void,  
  
I will not be the last.  
  
Weep upon the sun-dried soil,  
  
I'll soak up all your tears.  
  
Share my never ending pain,  
  
I cry, but no one hears...'  
  
Nhan "No More"  
  
* * * *  
  
"Are you ready to go on?" Harry asked carefully.  
  
Athan nodded. "Yeah, sure, perfectly fine." He straightened and began to pace in the small room.  
  
A long while passed before he started to talk again.  
  
**********************~*~**********************~*~*************************  
  
I sneaked back to the camp the next night. Everything was peaceful, everyone asleep except the guards. The picture of perfection. No one noticed me as I walked in the shadows. Idiotic bastards, they would soon learn not to play with a creature of the night.  
  
I found no trace of the Old Man and Kanika seemed to be gone as well.  
  
Two of the guards were standing and talking together close by, and some words they said caught my attention.  
  
"She tasted good," one said. "A bit small, but good."  
  
The other nodded. "Mhmm, and the old man was good enough in his own way. I only wish that we had caught that young fellow last night. He might've been tasty."  
  
"I don't know, a bit too pale for my tastes. We would have had to roast him first, and that takes forever."  
  
I saw red. My blood boiled, and all I wanted to do was to kill the whole lot of them. But the Old Man had trained me good, and I managed to keep my head cool. If I'd attacked now I'd be dead before half the tribe was. This had to be done in another way. I retreated to think over it.  
  
-------------------------  
  
It didn't take me long to figure out what had to be done.  
  
Soon the tribe noticed that their goats were disappearing mysteriously during the night. Bushes filled with berries were stripped bare by next morning. Some power made the river bare for fish, and other animals were chased away from their respectable territories. They began to get hungry, eying each other in a hungry way.  
  
I didn't stop there.  
  
I started attacking the night guards. If the hunters went far enough into the forest, to the places where the trees were thickest, I would attack them without a second thought. It didn't matter to me, I took children, old ones, and those in the prime of their youth.  
  
The tribe started to break. Some choose to flee with their families, others became fanatical and worshipped whatever gods they believed in day and night. The Chief of the tribe didn't know what to do. He was nervous and would jump at any sound, and boy was he stressed. In the end he broke as well and went to their own Shaman.  
  
It was night when he did that, and I followed him. This was a conversation I was not going to miss.  
  
"-and I don't know what to do!" I heard him say. "This... this madness! What causes it! Why are the gods angry at us? We did nothing wrong!"  
  
The Shaman, to my surprise, wasn't much older than Kanika. He was calmly sitting there, munching on some dried berries. "I saw what you did a fortnight ago," he said in the end, his voice calm. "To those three strangers. The girl, the old one and the young dark-haired man." He added when he saw that the Chief didn't understand.  
  
"So, what have they got to do with this?!" the bear of a man exclaimed. I smirked.  
  
"He is angry." The Shaman said.  
  
"WHO IS?! Will you stop babbling and give me some straightforward answers!"  
  
"The Dark God. Surely you must've heard about them? No? Too bad, because then you would have known not to touch a hair on their heads." The young boy took a drink from a flask and smirked. "Sit down and I'll explain what kind of curse you have brought unto your own tribe." And he did. He told the Chief everything our own Shaman had told me eleven years ago, and then some. Most of the things were untrue, but who am I to argue with something that terrifies my victim?  
  
"Now do you see, Chief?" the boy was as calm as before while the Chief was shaking and mumbling. "They walk amongst us to see if we're worthy of living on this earth. I have told you time and time again that what you did - eating humans, raping, all those things - didn't please the Gods, but did you listen to me?"  
  
"W-we'll flee from this place, the whole tribe! We'll leave the week and the young who cannot keep up to be eaten by this Dark God. And while he's occupied with them, we'll go over the mountains and to the Great River Nile. Yes, that's exac-"  
  
The young Shaman shook his head in amusement. "You really think that would help? No, my dear Chief, that'd only prolong your and the others death. Dark Gods don't give up that easily, he will chase you to the end of the world if he has to. And do you seriously think that there's only one of them roaming this earth?"  
  
The Chief paled even more. "What are we to do? What can save us?!"  
  
"Nothing." The boy smiled grimly. "The time for payment has come."  
  
That was clearly the end of the conversation. The Chief exited the hut and walked back to the camp. He didn't even notice me as I followed him the distance between us only a couple of feet. He called the tribe to the meeting-place and told them everything the Shaman had told him.  
  
"We will go out and hunt down this creature!" he said at last. "A human, no matter if he once was a God, is always vulnerable. We will hunt him down and kill him, no matter what it takes."  
  
I smiled a truly evil grin. They were playing straight into my hands, but for my plan to work I needed to give them some motivation. So I jumped straight into the middle of their circle. Women screamed, men shook and the Chief jumped several feet into the air. I wish you were there Harry, it'd amuse you greatly. Children just stared in awe at me.  
  
"Let the hunt begin." I said to them and turned myself into the Element of Air, to them it looked like I disappeared into nothing.  
  
That night every man in the camp - from ten years old and up - searched for me. They searched the forest, the stream and everywhere else they could think of. The Shaman watched them from his hut in amusement and sometimes gave pointers on where they could try to search. I began to like the kid.  
  
However, while the hunters were out on a wild goose chase, I was back in their camp doing some work of my own. When the hunters returned they found that their women and children had come down with a mysterious illness. They were suddenly so frightfully pale and weak, and one by one they died. Huge amounts of blood-loss will do that to a person, you know.  
  
They cursed and yelled and began to blame each other and got into fights. Humans really are violent creatures, especially in those times. They killed each other, thereby shortening my job. In the end there was the Chief and perhaps a dozen of the strongest men that had survived.  
  
"He's playing with us," one man said looking wildly around. "I can feel him out there!"  
  
"He's not a God, he's a demon!"  
  
"I have dreams that he will come and make us all like him!"  
  
"No worries," my disembodied voice froze their blood. "You'd be a disgrace to all the Gods, and wouldn't last five seconds." With those words I attacked. Three of them fell before they figured out where I was. I grinned at them and disappeared again.  
  
The nine that were left closed in around their Chief. Their eyes trying to spot me in the dark.  
  
"Come out of your shadows, demon!" the Chief hollered. "Fight like a man!"  
  
"But that's just the point, I am not a man." Another two men fell. "Your Shaman was right, Chief. You should never have touched us that night." Oops, there went another man.  
  
The humans were panicking. I was too fast for them and they knew it. Several of them got panic and started to run. I took care of them easily. Now there were only two men left along with the Chief. And all three of them were looking close to a nervous breakdown. I appeared right in front of them, deciding to end this part of the game before I went after those of the tribe who had escaped.  
  
The two warriors threw their spears at me, but, thanking the Old Man with all my heart, I used Fire and burden them to ash before they even came close to me. Then I used Air to blow them straight into the face of the two warriors, occupying them while I went after their Chief.  
  
The fight between myself and the other man didn't last long. He fought bravely, I'll give him that, but he was no match against my inhuman strength. Then I took care of the last two before they could get the ash out of their eyes.  
  
I stood up and picked up a spear. It was time to move on.  
  
"Very good, Dark God," the fact that the young Shaman had sneaked up behind me didn't surprise me the least. "You did a fine job with driving them all to madness. And now what are you going to do?" he came forward but stopped when I pointed the spear at his heart.  
  
"Stay away boy, I'm in a killing mood, and I've always wondered what it would be like to kill a Shaman." I growled.  
  
He raised an eyebrow and put his hand at the spear, pushing it away. "I'm not here to kill you or to preach for you, but to help you," he said.  
  
"Oh yeah?"  
  
"Yes, I have a deal to suggest to you." I raised an eyebrow. "They didn't kill her - Kanika, was it? They sent her off with one of the families that ran away."  
  
I stared at him. "And I'm supposed to believe that?"  
  
"Drink my blood, you know blood doesn't lie." He offered his wrist to me.  
  
"You are showing me great trust by doing this, young one. How do you know that I won't drink you dry and leave you here to die?"  
  
"I can see it in your eyes, you are not that sort of person. I know where they sent here, and all I want in return is for you to take me over the mountains and to the Great River Nile, to my original homeland." The boy still had his hand out.  
  
I thought over it. I didn't know the way over these mountains, wherever they might be; and the boy only wanted me to take him to this river he was talking about. However, he could be leading me into a trap, but he was offering me his blood. Gods, I hate it when humans become difficult.  
  
Grabbing his arm I bit his wrist. He bit back a cry but didn't pull back. His blood was powerful, golden, pure as a new-born baby's. He wasn't lying.  
  
"Alright," I said as I released him. I put my hand over the bite marks and made them heal themselves. "I'll take you with me, but if you slow me down..." I didn't need to say anything else, he understood.  
  
"I won't slow you, but perhaps I can have your name?"  
  
Names, especially to vampires under fifty, are powerful things. It can bind them to a person and this person then has full control over the vampire. They can order us to do anything, almost like the Imperius Cruse.  
  
"I will give you mine if you give me yours." I replied.  
  
"I am Aestus." He replied earnestly.  
  
"Indeed, then you can call me Ereptor."  
  
"Why do I have a feeling that that is not your real name?" he Aestus asked as he picked up the things he had packed. Smart boy, he knew I would take him with me as soon as he mentioned Kanika to me.  
  
"To each his own, youngling. Now, which way are we going?"  
  
He pointed towards north-east and we set off.  
  
-------------------------  
  
Well, that's is mates. What do you think?  
  
Thanks to:  
  
brion, Rachel A. Prongs, Lexi, BloodIce, Naia, Makina Kitsune, JerseyGirl03, WeasleTwinsLover1112, Dragonhope, CR, Arianne, Anneliese1, Isis Rahjanah, chaser1, SSSRoaB and idril coamenel. 


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I own only the obvious, the rest belongs to JK Rowling.  
  
Authors Note: Sorry for the delay. Enjoy!  
  
-Chapter Five-  
  
* * * *  
  
'By a route obscure and lonely,  
  
Haunted by ill angels only,  
  
Where an Eidolon, named Night,  
  
On a black throne reigns upright,  
  
I have reached these lands but newly  
  
From an ultimate dim Thule -  
  
From a wild weird clime that lieth, sublime,  
  
Out of Space - out of Time.'  
  
Edgar Allan Poe "Dream-land"  
  
* * * *  
  
We travelled together for six years. Over mountain and over plains we walked. Aestus was surprisingly fit and able to keep up with my pace most of the time. We tracked down those who had done us wrong, his former tribe, and I killed them all one by one.  
  
It took another year before I met the first of my kind. By then my reputation had gone faster than me and I was known as the Black Avenger for some reason. The vampire - younger than me, perhaps only a month old - stared at me in surprise and fear before running for his life. The same happened to the others we met over the years. Aestus just grinned every time before continuing. I really was beginning to hate the boy. I know I said that I liked him, but after six years with him and his know-it-all attitude you kind of get sick of him.  
  
In the end we entered into Egypt hunting for the last of the cannibalistic tribe. Aestus left me as soon as he saw the pyramids of those times in the distance, and I knew I wouldn't miss him. It was just the way it was. So I continued on my own. Every night the pyramids came closer, every night I fed upon the blood of the people living by the river side. The Egyptian blood was warm as the climate, but it was dry like the sand. Not the best I've ever tasted, I must admit.  
  
I watched as slaves struggled to build a pyramid for the current pharaoh. Poor blighters. I shook my head and was about to continue on my way to the town not too far away, when I found a spear pointed at my heart. The man holding it was one of the guards that watched over the slaves.  
  
"What are you doing here, slave?!" he demanded. "Trying to get away from the work, eh?"  
  
"Excuse me, but I am no slave. Nor am I ever going to be." I replied. "So if you'd be so kind to let me pass?" I stepped to the right but he followed. I had just stood up and I was hungry, and when I'm hungry I easily get annoyed. I growled and stepped to the left, but once again he followed.  
  
"You are not going anywhere but back to the pyramid, slave." He added the last word to mock me.  
  
"No I am not, I am going into town." Once again I tried to step past him, but he wouldn't budge and poked me hard with the spear. Only the fact that my vampire skin was tougher than human skin saved me from loosing the little blood that I had in my body. "You really don't want to make me angry mate."  
  
"Oh? Really? Slave!" he poked me again.  
  
I saw red. You would've too had you met him Harry, so don't even think of making a comment on that one. So I did what I do best, I attacked him. The man hadn't expected this and I had him pinned to the ground easily. With a growl I pit his throat and sucked on the life-giving blood. He tried to scream but I put my hand over his mouth. I stopped right before he would've passed out and looked down at him.  
  
"I told you that you wouldn't want to piss me off." He stared at me in horror. "Did you know that you people from the Nile taste very dry. You need to move somewhere with more water and less sand. Thanks for the meal." I left him there on the ground to bleed. He would be dead before the hour was up.  
  
Continuing on I entered the city. I walked around the surprisingly busy streets and took in the sights. Cairo in the old days was really something, Harry. Just imagine Egypt in its prime; the paintings on the walls, the cats and dogs roaming the streets, the priests walking around, the people, the colours. It was quite the sight to behold.  
  
The priests amused me greatly. Each and every one of them - no matter what god they served - knew what I was. When they saw me their eyes would get comically big and they would either start praying or run off screaming bloody murder.  
  
And then I felt it. The presence of another vampire.  
  
I was currently standing on one side of a great market place. I looked around, and my eyes locked on the amber ones belonging to our dearest Ramsis.  
  
***********************~*~*********************~*~*************************  
  
Athan smiled fondly at the memory and Harry grinned. Athan was by far the most interesting creature he had ever met, and he included Dumbledore and The Voice in that as well.  
  
Pig hooted and pecked the bars of Hedwig's cage. Hedwig rolled her eyes before going straight back to slumber. Harry shook his head and opened the door to the cage. Pig shot out and flew towards the window.  
  
"You'll have to hide for a minute Athan," the green-eyed wizard told the vampire. "I'm going to let Pig out."  
  
"Are you sure that I can't eat him?" Athan asked hopefully.  
  
"Quite sure." Harry smiled as he watched the vampire, grumbling and complaining, get into his closet. "There you go Pig."  
  
Pig hooted, nipped his hand and glared at the closet before flying out of the window. He tried to imitate Hedwig for a while but quickly went back to his crazy way of flying all over the place, zooming here and there and nearly crashing with trees and lampposts.  
  
Harry shook his head again and sighed as he closed the window. "You can come out now."  
  
Athan jumped out at once. "Finally. It was getting boring in there."  
  
"You were there for a total of three seconds."  
  
"So? I'm a hyperactive vampire, accept it and move on."  
  
"Believe me I have. You're right up there with Dumbledore, are you sure you don't eat Sherbet Lemons?"  
  
"Nope." Athan grinned.  
  
The green-eyed wizard snorted. "I swear, those sweets should be banned."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"They make Dumbledore way too cheerful - and at the most impropriate times as well."  
  
"Like when?"  
  
"Bright and early in the morning when anyone with half a brain shouldn't be awake yet."  
  
Athan shrugged. "People are weird. That is a fact that I have accepted. You change topics far too often."  
  
"What happened next?" Harry asked in jest.  
  
"See, there you prove my point! Ha! I was right about something!"  
  
"You scare me." Harry deadpanned.  
  
"Well, honey, I am a vampire." Athan seated himself upside down on the ceiling. "Now, for the rest of it."  
  
***********************~*~*********************~*~*************************  
  
We stared at each other for a long while. Then Ramsis smiled and motioned for me to follow him, which I did. He led me through the streets to a house on the edge of the town. It wasn't big, it wasn't fancy, it was simply Ramsis if you know what I mean. Scrolls of papyrus lined the shelves and jars of ink stood around on the tables.  
  
I was wary and didn't sit down though Ramsis did. He regarded me with interest for a long while before talking. In that time I got slightly nervous. Sure I had met other vampires before, but they were all younger than me. Ramsis is 100 years older, and it wasn't a knowledge I liked. I knew that to him I was just a Fledgling still, and I didn't know his way of thinking well enough yet to go into full battle with him.  
  
"Calm down, Athan," he said suddenly. "I will not hurt you. Why don't you sit down?" he mentioned to the seat opposite himself.  
  
"I'll stand." I replied.  
  
"As you wish." He looked at me for another while before continuing. "Your reputation has reached us long before you came in person. There used to be ten vampires in this city, and now there are only three left; the knowledge that you were headed this way has scared them off."  
  
I got curious, a trait that I yet have to learn how to master. "Who are you?"  
  
"I am Ramsis the Half-Vampire."  
  
"Ramsis the WHAT?! Is that even possible?!" I know my eyes were wide and my finely-schooled cold demeanour dropped.  
  
He chuckled. "Of course it is possible. The one who made you couldn't have known much. Oh, he knew the basics of course, but that is instinctual. Yes, I am a half-vampire, and yes it is possible for a vampire to mate with a mortal human."  
  
"How's that possible?" I asked as I sat down. I had a feeling that I was going to stay here for a couple of days.  
  
"Ever heard of soulmates?" I nodded. That was a topic that our Shaman had talked about constantly. "Every vampire has a soulmate waiting for him or here somewhere out there. And once you find your soulmate you will be bound to him or her for eternity. Nothing except death can tear you apart, nothing can stand in your way. We call it the Bonding."  
  
"Will I meet my soulmate?" I asked.  
  
"Perhaps, it is a large world out there." Ramsis smiled at me. "How about you stay here with me for a couple of days?" he suggested. "There are a lot of things that you need to know that your teachers couldn't teach you. I am willing to let you become my apprentice for a while until you have learned what you need, and I crave the company."  
  
"Crave my company?"  
  
"Another thing with vampires. We are loners by nature, but yet we crave the company of our own kind now and then. It gets depressing after a while to only mingle with mortals who die so quickly; and when this gets too depressing we seek out our own kind to boost up our ego, if you understand what I mean."  
  
"Yes, I do. My Maker said almost the same thing." I replied.  
  
"He wasn't as stupid as most vampires are, then. You see, Athan, knowledge is power. If you know many things, you will be able to easier defeat your enemies. But the best thing is to let them underestimate you, the surprise they get when you show what you really are made of will buy you a few precious moments to escape. Especially when you're dealing with the Slayer Organisation."  
  
Yes, Ramsis was more violent in those days. Compared to what he is normally today, back then he was a devil.  
  
"You speak from personal experience?"  
  
"More or less." The half-vampire smiled. "Stay with me Athan and I'll teach you everything I know."  
  
I didn't take long to think over the proposition. "I'll stay."  
  
-------------------------  
  
There, that's done. Please tell me what you think. 


End file.
